AFTER MONTHS OF DODGING THE QUESTION, DESANTIS’ STAFF AND A PRIEST THEY KNOW WELL HAVE CONFIRMED THAT DESANTIS AND HIS FAMILY REGULARLY ATTEND VARIOUS CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN THE TALLAHASSEE AREA.

Mr. DeSantis was raised Catholic, attended Mass as a child and was a student at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Dunedin, Florida. He is the nephew of a Catholic priest and also the nephew of a Catholic sister, both residing in Ohio, and a 2013 report from the Pew Research Center noting the religious affiliation of each member of Congress stated that Mr. DeSantis was a Roman Catholic.

In 2010, Ron Desantis married “Jill Casey Black”, in a ceremony at Walt Disney World in Orlando, though a local newspaper reported that a Catholic priest presided at the ceremony.

The day of Mr. DeSantis’s inauguration, in 2019, the couple held a baptism ceremony in their home for their son, Mason, Florida Politics reported, using water from the Sea of Galilee. And during a ceremony ahead of Mr. DeSantis’s second inauguration ceremony, earlier this year, a group of faith leaders offered prayers for the governor and lieutenant governor, including Father Tim Holeda, rector at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Tallahassee.

The GOP presidential candidate is opening up about an aspect of his life that he has mostly kept private: 

Lately, DeSantis has begun to drop details about his Roman Catholic faith along the campaign trail, especially in his one-on-one interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network with its worldwide audience of 350 million.

“Our household is a Christ-centered household,” DeSantis told CBN political analyst David Brody, while confirming he is Catholic. His favorite Bible verse is John 14:6 where Jesus tells his disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” he said.

That’s the cornerstone of his faith, DeSantis said, and what his relationship with God centers around. “God has a plan for you, I still believe that,” DeSantis said.

He and his wife, Casey, make it their job to provide religious training for their kids and are grateful they go to a school where they learn stories from the Bible. “It’s great for us when our kids are coming back from pre-school or kindergarten and talking about David and Goliath,” he said.

For Christmas last year, his son Mason, who was 4 at the time, asked for a slingshot so he could be like King David, the governor said.

He also recounted how he and his wife leaned on their faith to get through her fight with breast cancer diagnosed in 2021. “It definitely increased her spirits when we went public and people started praying for us.”

Until recently, DeSantis has downplayed his Catholic upbringing, referring to his faith in general terms. By contrast, President Joe Biden has frequently talked about being Catholic, even when it clashes with his political beliefs. DeSantis also has clashed with Catholic leaders over his immigration and death penalty policies.

After months of dodging the question, DeSantis’ staff and a priest have confirmed that DeSantis and his family regularly attend various Catholic churches in the Tallahassee area.

And there’s this detail about his upbringing:

DeSantis was raised by devout Catholics in Dunedin, with a nun for an aunt and a priest for an uncle, both on his mother’s side. His uncle officiated the wedding of Ron and Casey DeSantis at Disney World in 2009, according to their marriage certificate.

He went to Mass every Sunday and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School until he transferred to a public school to pursue his baseball dreams.

Personal life

DeSantis met his wife, Casey Black, on a golf course at the University of North Florida.She had been a television host for the Golf Channel, and then a television journalist and news anchor at WJXT.They married on September 26, 2009, in a chapel at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. DeSantis is Catholic, and the marriage was officiated by a Catholic priest.

The couple lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, near St. Augustine, until it was drawn into the neighboring 4th congressional district. They then moved to Palm Coast, north of Daytona Beach, which remained in the district he represented: the 6th. They have three children.